Information Resources

March 2, 2015 by Robert Franklin, Esq, Member, National Board of Directors, National Parents Organization

I’ve written a good bit about child support and often enough pointed out that the popular conception of the “deadbeat dad” is more of a misconception than anything. It’s common in the news media and popular culture to portray non-custodial fathers as uncaring about their children, and one of the ways to promote that view is to emphasize non-payment of child support.

That of course is wrong on many different levels, but nowhere is its inaccuracy made clearer than when we look at how non-custodial mothers do when they’re asked to pay support. As I’ve written many times and data from the Census Bureau demonstrate, non-custodial mothers are significantly less reliable about paying the support they owe than are their male counterparts.

March 1, 2015 by Robert Franklin, Esq, Member, National Board of Directors,
National Parents Organization

This is not a new case. It was decided by the Australian High Court in 2006, but more recent revelations have made it even more outrageous than it was when it was first decided.

The case is one of paternity fraud. It involved Liam Magill and his wife, Meredith. They were married in 1988, separated in 1992 and were divorced in 1998. Between 1988 and 1992, Meredith Magill gave birth to three children all of whom Liam assumed to be his and whom he supported. He continued to do so after the couple separated and after they divorced. His child support obligations at times reduced his net earnings to $130 per week. In 2000, Liam collected tissue samples from each of the children and had them tested by a DNA testing laboratory. The results indicated that two of the three children had been fathered by a family “friend,” Derek John Rowe.